Responses to Feedback 9th October, 2013 – 3rd February, 2014

UoN118677

what have you done to your catalogue? The catalogue I now have to use on the website is TERRIBLE!!!! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND WHAT I NEED. I RELY ON THE CATALOGUE TO BE EASY TO USE AND ABLE TO FIND WHAT I NEED.AT THE MOMENT GOOGLE WORKS BETTER THAT THIS.PLEASE BRING BACK TO OLD CATALOGUE PLEASE BRING BACK TO OLD CATALOGUE PLEASE BRING BACK TO OLD CATALOGUE PLEASE BRING BACK TO OLD CATALOGUE PLEASE BRING BACK TO OLD CATALOGUE PLEASE BRING BACK TO OLD CATALOGUE

Thank you for your email.

Please refer to the following information re the Library’s new Catalogue, NewCat+ with kind regards.The Library is pleased to announce the launch of its new search platform, NewCat+ – so much more than just the library catalogue.Accessed from the search box on the Library’s homepage, and incorporating both the library catalogue and the majority of the Library’s subject databases, NewCat+ will enable you to find results from a large collection of library resources with a single search.No longer will it be necessary for your students to identify and individually search several subject databases in order to find good quality scholarly articles for their essays. With one quick keyword search, they will have a wealth of reliable academic resources at their fingertips.The NewCat+ search interface works in a similar way to Google Scholar – it is simple and straightforward to use, and results lists can be narrowed down using “facets” such as publication date, format, location and peer reviewed status. And with Newcat+ there is the added benefit of knowing that the students will not have to evaluate the quality of the sources they are searching – all the databases included in NewCat+ are good quality, academic, reliable information sources. Of course, NewCat+ incorporates all of the existing information
from the library catalogue, and also includes the Course Reserves reading lists (formerly short loans online), all searchable from the Library’s homepage.No more excuses for unreliable Wikipedia references – recommend NewCat+ as the easiest and best place for your students to begin their research.If you currently include links to, or information about the library catalogue or Course Reserves (short loans online) in your course outlines, please update the relevant sections to reflect these changes.See our Course Reserves
web page for more information about Course Reserves (Short Loans), including adding new Course Reserves items and linking to Course Reserves from your Blackboard course More information about NewCat+, including details of the main features and search tips is available from the Library website.

UoN118678

The new library catalogue is not working again. It is 7:30 at night but as a busy academic I use this time to work on my research. This has been happening frequently in the last few weeks.Mr Anderson – what are you and your team doing? I have always relied on the Library to be the shining light of the uni but it now seems you are slipping. Library staff tell me that NEWCAT is not available anymore and we must use this new version from now on. But it is not working, your staff are polite with me but they also seem frustrated.

Thank you for your email.

Please refer to the following information re the Library’s new Catalogue, NewCat+ with kind regards.The Library is pleased to announce the launch of its new search platform, NewCat+ – so much more than just the library catalogue.Accessed from the search box on the Library’s homepage, and incorporating both the library catalogue and the majority of the Library’s subject databases, NewCat+ will enable you to find results from a large collection of library resources with a single search.No longer will it be necessary for your students to identify and individually search several subject databases in order to find good quality scholarly articles for their essays. With one quick keyword search, they will have a wealth of reliable academic resources at their fingertips.The NewCat+ search interface works in a similar way to Google Scholar – it is simple and straightforward to use, and results lists can be narrowed down using “facets” such as publication date, format, location and peer reviewed status. And with Newcat+ there is the added benefit of knowing that the students will not have to evaluate the quality of the sources they are searching – all the databases included in NewCat+ are good quality, academic, reliable information sources. Of course, NewCat+ incorporates all of the existing information
from the library catalogue, and also includes the Course Reserves reading lists (formerly short loans online), all searchable from the Library’s homepage.No more excuses for unreliable Wikipedia references – recommend NewCat+ as the easiest and best place for your students to begin their research.If you currently include links to, or information about the library catalogue or Course Reserves (short loans online) in your course outlines, please update the relevant sections to reflect these changes.See our Course Reserves
web page for more information about Course Reserves (Short Loans), including adding new Course Reserves items and linking to Course Reserves from your Blackboard course More information about NewCat+, including details of the main features and search tips is available from the Library website.

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Well, I think the complainers have a point. Your long rambling advertisement for the wonders of the new system really do nothing to clarify the situation. What is wanted is a reply to the effect “For the old style catalog go to X and click Y” The point is that the old system may be what many people have been using for years, and wish to continue using BECAUSE THEY DO NOT NEED (much less want to be slowed down by) ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES that have been introduced. Like so many institutions (including the University on its web site) there seems to be more interest in boasting about how wonderful the new system is than about actually helping users in a straightforward fashion*. Do we really need all this flummery and PR and competition about whose product is the best? The renaming of Short Loans as “Course Reserves” is ludicrous and unnecessary – who exactly does it help? Do we need such a complicated opening page for the Uni or the Library, so that one has to search among a whole lot of links to find the basic catalog?
* The essence of communication is understanding the needs of the recipient of the message.

Thank you for your feedback, Professor Munro, and apologies for taking so long to respond to your comment. I agree that the ‘cut-and-paste’ response to the items above was unsatisfactory and not at all helpful. We are taking action to ensure that in future our responses will address the issues raised in a more personal and individual manner.

There have been a number of teething problems with NewCat+ which we have been working hard to resolve, and the system has come a long way since it first went live in early December. We do, however, understand the frustrations of people using a new system which keeps changing, and appreciate the patience of all those using our system.

NewCat+ does have many advantages over the old catalogue, for example, the ability to search and immediately access onine articles as well as find books, etc located in the Library; and the use of facets to quickly and easily limit search results. We feel undergraduates in particular will find these features very useful. However, we also understand that the change from the old catalogue is a rather big leap and the transition can be difficult to make. This is why the old catalogue will still be available for some time. Although the links to it are not being given prominence, there is a link under ‘Library Links’ in the footer of NewCat+.

We also have links in the header and footer of NewCat+ to information about NewCat+ and some searching tips.

The renaming of Short Loans to Course Reserves was a result of a combination of factors coming together at the same time. For a while we had been considering that the name ‘Short Loans’ no longer accurately reflected the nature of the service. With the majority of items available online, they were neither loaned nor short! The implementation of NewCat+ precipitated our decision, as that was the terminology used and it was something we were unable to change. It was felt that it would cause more confusion if we referred to Short Loans when the system used Course Reserves.

We have raised the issue of the location of the Library catalogue search box on our web page, and requested it be moved to the top of the page. The structure and layout of the webpages is determined by the University’s Marketing and Public Relations department.